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| 1924, April 6 |
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| In the elections the Fascists, through government control of the machinery and through liberal use of “squad” methods, polled 65 percent of the votes and were given 375 seats in the chamber (as against the 35 they had previously had). | 1 |
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| June 10 |
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| MURDER OF THE SOCIALIST DEPUTY GIACOMO MATTEOTTI, who had written a book, The Fascisti Exposed, containing detailed case histories of hundreds of acts of violence illegally carried out by Fascists. The murderers were Fascists, some of them prominent in the party. When tried in 1926 they were either acquitted or given light sentences. | 2 |
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| June 15 |
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| Most of the non-Fascist third of the new chamber seceded (Aventine Secession) and vowed not to return until the Matteotti affair had been cleared up and the complicity of the government disproved. The opposition demanded the disbanding of the Fascist militia and the cessation of violence. Mussolini, faced by a major crisis (the most serious during his rule), disavowed all connection with the affair and dismissed all those implicated. A rigid press censorship was introduced (July 1) and meetings of the opposition group were forbidden (Aug. 3). The support of part of the Liberal group, under Salandra, helped to break the force of the opposition, which never returned to parliament. | 3 |
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